Hohenstaufen Dynasty, dynastyalso called Staufer Dynasty, dynastyGerman dynasty that ruled the Holy Roman Empire from 1138 to 1208 and from 1212 to 1254. The founder of the line was the count Frederick (died 1105), who built Staufen Castle in the Swabian Jura Mountains and was rewarded for his fidelity to Emperor Henry IV by being appointed duke of Swabia as Frederick I in 1079. He later married Henry’s daughter Agnes. His two sons, Frederick II, duke of Swabia, and Conrad, were the heirs of their uncle, Emperor Henry V, who died childless in 1125. After the interim reign of the Saxon Lothair Lothar III, Conrad became German king and Holy Roman emperor as Conrad III in 1138. Subsequent Hohenstaufen rulers were Frederick I Barbarossa (Holy Roman emperor 1155–90), Henry VI (Holy Roman emperor 1191–97), Philip of Swabia (king 1198– 1208), Frederick II (king, 1212–50, emperor 1220–50), and Conrad IV (king 1237–54). The Hohenstaufen, especially Frederick I and Frederick II, continued the struggle with the papacy that began under their Salian predecessors, and were active in Italian affairs.

The imperial dynasty was interrupted in 1208–12 by the brief reign of Otto IV, duke of Aquitaine of the House of Welf.